Today Robert G. Edward was awarded the Noble in Physiology or Medicine 2010 for the development of IVF:
"Edwards, a professor emeritus at Cambridge University, began research on the problem of infertility in the 1950s. The first "test-tube baby," Louise Brown, was born in 1978, an event that the Nobel expert panel called "a paradigm shift." Since then, approximately 4 million babies have been born worldwide via IVF, many of whom now have children of their own.
Members of the Nobel committee said that this year's prize was not intended as a statement on the ethics of human embryonic stem cell research, a field that has come under increasing scrutiny after a surprise ban on U.S. federal funding in August (which has been stayed during the appeals process). Supporters of embryonic stem cell research point out that many fertilized eggs created for IVF are left to languish in freezers, with little hope of adoption. These extra embryos could be put to better use, they argue, as new human embryonic stem cell lines. Critics of human embryonic stem cell research contend, however, that because creating stem cell lines destroys the embryo, the more ethical choice is to leave the IVF extras intact. In its earlier years, assisted reproductive technology (ART) itself was a subject of ethical debate, but it is now a generally accepted treatment for many of the estimated 10 percent of couples who are unable to conceive a child naturally. "
Great news but I am hoping someday in my life time IVF meat will attain this stature.
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